Great thread idea, Jean!

As I've noted before, it's always hard for me to decide what to get folks for Christmas, unless they come right out and say, "I want this!" Unique is in the eye of the beholder, so personalizing is always fun. And I can't even THINK what a novice guitar player would want or need...besides a guitar. That's how bad I have it. LOL

If I were in the market for a pet, I think I'd have to give Obi Tan Orangutan a try. Or maybe just get him to freak out family and friends. :D

Brenda

I've seen some lovely one of a kind guitar straps. You could probably find lots of those on the web. (g-strings keep coming into my thoughts. Bad Sandy.)

Brenda that's a pretty cool website and I was excited to find laser scissors that are supposed to cut a perfect straight line. Then I read the fine print "The laser line however will only be as straight as your ability to hold the scissors, and the attached laser, itself perfectly steady.". Hmm, I guess I will have to think about that one.

The guitar strap is a great idea, he's not currently using one as he always sits to play. That does remind me of making macarame guitar straps as kids though.

A fun toy for all ages is 20 questions. Anyone else played with it?

Here is a link that might be useful: 20 Questions

We have never been much for games other than Bridge and chess. We did do a lot of Scrabble for a while but we take our games too seriously. I've always tried to give something people should have but often don't. The folks at Sears thought I was strange when I bought 11 fire extinguishers. I think I may have a jinx though. In the next year, 7 of them had to be used. Everyone decided they preferred my arts and crafts projects. Sandy

Just to pipe in here...jigsaw puzzles...come from easy to almost undo-able, and can be found to fit any hobby or whatever. So can fit any age. And almost everybody has a day now and then (like during a blizzard) when it's fun to have a diversion.

I also like to hit thrift or antique stores for stuff. For instance my brother is an engineer for BN - train stuff; my parents like Indian artifacts, from the SW US to Alaska; my sister is into historical architecture, well history - old photos, etc are good for her. Someone into old ships - maybe a reproduction lantern, old planes - a book on old war planes. And a mystery buff - a book on murders in your state...

PS: My folks (at age 75) still go to all the UMM football games so I got them Stadium seats - straps to the bleachers, padded and have backs, fold up, light weight...

Don't tell! :) Sarah

Don't forget, there are a huge number of charities close to home that you can give a donation to in lieu of gifts...last year instead of buying 5 gifts for our little group (we have a $10 limit) I donated $50 to the local food shelf in honor of our "girlfriends" bunch and just gave them cards...they loved it!

Sarah

Sarah, you have the most fun with the shopping! That list of hobbies would be a dream to check off, at least for me. I love 1000 piece puzzles and I keep looking for one of the big 3-D ones. I bet Z-Chick could find matches in a minute for your list. Do you do estate sales? A friend of mine found a 12 place setting plus serving pieces of what was listed as silver plate and turned out to be sterling for $150.00 and two weeks later won a bid for 15 place setting of china for $300.00. You would cry at the apraised value.
Now, can you suggest something for an accountant who has returned everything he gets at Christmas??? Sandy

Jean, I'm a trivia fanatic, so you can imagine what your link did to me. LOL I cannae stop, Cap'n!

We always try to get a new game to take up to my folks' for Christmas so our little family group can have some fun during down time. We got one of the Cranium games a few years back, and we haven't bought a new one since. It's SO much fun and very addicting. :)

Great ideas, Sarah! I love finding just the right gift, especially when they least expect it. :)

DH & I have decided that instead of trying to think of what the family can buy for us next year, we're just going to ask that they donate to a charity of choice. It seems like the older we get, the more we feel the need to share as much as possible with others. And the season seems more bittersweet/melancholy as the years pass.

Brenda

A real nice kaleidoscope that doesn't have any 'pieces' in it but uses lenses to crazy up the real world view.

A microscope to look at anything small. You'd be surprised by what people will put under one and holler out 'ooooh, look what my spit looks like'. Hours of fun.

A massage - an hour or more. Who can't enjoy that!

An automatic coin sorter. The clear kind where you can watch the coins falling into place.

An old fashioned, tin animal bank that takes a coin when placed in it's hand and eats it or otherwise drops the coin into a slot somewhere.

A wooden flower press.

CT

Ooooh - I thought of a few more.

A rock tumbler.

OK, I'm exposing my Christmas wish list. Add to that - a stainless steel indoor compost collector with a tight fitting lid and handle.

A Dremel tool and the big kit with all the attachments!

Heaven help me!! Last night we went to the office party. This was not the typical bash. First we had a lovely meal (on the menu) at a very good local restaurant and after satisfying our protein addictions we all drove over to a chocolate store. If you are a chocolate lover you can envy me from now to whenever.
After passing a display case of chocolates that made my knees weak, we came to a bar with trays of marshmallow bites, fruit and pretzels and two chocolate waterfalls, one dark chocolate and one milk chocolate. I took a sample of most and then picked up a cup of excellent coffee to go with it. There was a tower of dark and milk chocolate turtles by the coffee. I should have eaten less at the restaurant. They had a whole menu of chocolate treats to choose from. Most were getting chocolate or caramel floats but there was hot chocolate and a bunch of other things as well. I was so disappointed I was too full to try one of the floats but I decided to pass it up since I was getting a buzz just from the things I had dipped. I tucked the two turtles into a napkin to take with me since there was no chance I could eat them without making myself sick. Our waiter started to take them away with the plates since I had the napkin over them and every one at the table yelped to stop him. I had no idea anyone had noticed and I am so glad they did. As we were leaving we were given a pretty gold box with two pieces of chocolate in them.
Of course we stopped on the way out to check the display case again.
I have been trying to figure out just how much the average cost per person was. Some people went twice to the falls and had floats as well and I can't remember what all was on the menu. The price of the two piece box was $4.50 in the online catalog. Maybe I am better off not knowing but I will go back with a friend to try one of those floats when I am feeling flush. Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: a chocoholics dream

Okay! I'm in heaven just reading this! Drool :p``

And you should be good to go for years since we all know chocolate cures everything!

Seems my suggestion for the accountant got lost in cyberspace Sandy (I probably forgot to hit the submit button), how 'bout a weekend at a cabin or B & B? Provided he's your own personal accountant!

Yeah, you wouldn't want to surprise the local H & R Block accountant with breakfast in bed, I guess. LOL

Chocolate...oh, my! GREAT description of your visit, Sandy. I'm drooling, too. That website didn't help. :D And not an ounce of chocolate in the house!!! *sob*

CT, I wish I'd had your list the other day. Brother called up, wanting my list, pronto. I can never seem to think of what I want until it's too late. LOL

I used to have a microscope when I was a kid, and it was so much fun. Even adults would be interested in what they could see in a puddle out in the yard. And a wooden flower press! Another something I'd love to have but just don't think about.

Brenda

I had a microscope as a kid too. Loved it. Hey, buy yourself a flower press. You certainly grow the right flowers for drying. My sister used to press all kinds of California flowers and she would put them in pretty picture frames under glass, leaving room for whatever somebody wanted to put in the center.

CT

A gift Jeanner might like. I saw one priced at $7k plus, marked down from $12k. Take a gander at the bird photo in flight!

Here is a link that might be useful: 600mm Wildlife Photography Lens

I just bought myself a gift since I know no one else is going to indulge me in my tool compulsion. There is a new Dremel on the market with a lithium battery that lasts up to 2 years. The tool is about half the size of the older Dremels and is pretty easy for my sore hands to hold on to. It was on sale at Menards for $50. Comes with charger and 25 attachments and case. I have two other Dremels but have passed up the other battery powered ones because they were so light on the charge. Don't laugh at the number I have. I have loads of attachments I don't have to take apart now. Sandy

CT - have you been shopping??? Believe me I've been drooling over that lens for a long time, you wouldn't believe how many semi-pro/amatuer photographers use that lens.

A couple of friends and I have been taking a quilt class together in lieu of exchanging gifts. We always have a blast and it's a great way to spend a winter day.

Well I'm done shopping - other than catnip for the kitties. My shipment of waxworms (my gift to the birds)should be here tomorrow.

Now I have to start wrapping ....

I've been checking out lots of cameras and lenses. That lens is too much money for me that's for sure! I don't even have the camera to connect any lense to right now! LOL Just my point and shoot type with limited features, but OK for the type of photography I use it for.

I looked at the model you have and saw various versions of it (with a wide variety of prices based on the telephoto capacity), but none came with the 600mm as part of the package deals. As far as I could find anyway.

I just had a hunch that might be a lens you would like! Guess I was right based on the quantity of drool:-D

I'm not quite done shopping. I want to pick up a few things for my son that he didn't put on 'The List'. I like the surprise element - he likes to know what he's getting.

Where do you buy your waxworms? I bought them locally one time but they are not available now. I've been using the Beetlemania mix that has dried insects. At least with the cold weather your waxworms won't be wandering off (not that they have much chance of wandering too far with all those birds scoping them out:-)

For the cats: those fishing poles with the shiny, crinkly streamers on them. Best type of the fishing pole toys by far. They leap and flip for those.

For the dog: I wrap up a cup of his regular dry dog food and he goes ape over it, opening it up, after dancing around with it a bit first. I hide it in with the other presents and tell him to go find it. He roots around, pushing the wrong presents out of the way with his nose, until he finds it. He's so pleased with himself.
CT

CT I don't think the 400 or 600mm come in package deals. At least I didn't find any when I was shopping around. But I didn't get the lens for months after I bought the camera. The advice I read was to put your money into the lens as everyone eventually trades up on the body. Just a word of advice though, if you can afford to buy a different standard lens than the kit lens, do it. The kit lens is of a pretty poor quality. Also I'm not sure I would spend the extra bucks on the zoom, I rarely zoom it in, I would just get the prime lens. I believe the primes also work better with the converters which would give you even more reach without buying the 600mm lens.

I ordered waxworms from ebay. There are lots of online places that sell them for the same price but they want to charge 4 times more for the shipping. They only ship at the beginning of the week. Have you checked any of the pet stores that carry lizards for the waxworms?

LOL! Jean, I did a double take on the last post. I had this vision of a poor lizard being attacked by waxworms. I remember when the boys had anoles and how hard it was to find food for them in the dead of winter. No computer sources back then. We had to search the house for spider webs. I never thought of feeding the wild birds with waxworms. Doesn't it get expensive? Sandy

I hope you get some unique gifts today, Jean! Have a wonderful birthday! May all the little birdies pose their hearts out for you this year. :)

(You're in good company; DH celebrates #48 today. :D)

Brenda

HAPPY BDAY JEAN! May all your days be full of birds! And may you always have your camera ready! Heehee.

:) Mary

*Brenda, you're on top of things, girl!*

happy bday!!!!

Man, April 12th must have been a great day for many forum members' parents!!!! :-)

Happy birthday to Jeanner AND Mr. Youreit.

Well HAPPY BIRTHDAY again Jean! You got one year on me - I'll be 49 this month! he he

Thank you! And happy birthday to Mr. Youreit too!

And I DID get a very unique gift, 36 bags of pretzels!!!

"And I DID get a very unique gift, 36 bags of pretzels!!! "

If you eat all those, you can kiss the big 5-1 goodbye!!! 8-)

LOL!! Forget Hawaii...I'm hearing "Ohio 5-0" music. :D

The ol' "goat" says thanks, everyone!! :)

Brenda